Fw: Christian Bodhichitta

[Guest guest]

I post the following from sangha-talk, a Buddhist list of which I'm a member. I

think its message is prettty universal.

Sincerely,

J.I. Abbot

I got this from a Christian friend,, It's nonetheless a good reminder

about ordinary opportunities for manifesting bodhichitta. [the mind of

awakening, invoked to call all beings back to their own innate, latent, great

enlightenment.. - JIA]

-- [name withheld]

>

>A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PRAYER

>

>Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in

>traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and

>was rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and

>spend a few precious moments with her children.

>

>Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man

>who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college

>student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of

>not getting his student loans for next semester.

>

>Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the

>same spot every day (who really ought to get a job)! is a slave to

>addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

>

>Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through

>the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this

>moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week,

>this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

>

>Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us,

>the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with

>those we hold dear. Open our hearts not just to those who are close to

>us but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judgment and quick to

>forgiveness and patience and empathy and love.

>

>AMEN

>

>-- Author Unknown

[Guest guest]

THank you

I will pass it on.

c

-

Jiabbot (AT) cs (DOT) com

gjlist

Sunday, December 08, 2002 7:40 AM

[GJ] Fw: Christian Bodhichitta

Dear GJ List,I post the following from sangha-talk, a Buddhist list of which I'm

a member. I think its message is prettty universal.Sincerely,J.I. AbbotI got

this from a Christian friend,, It's nonetheless a good reminder about ordinary

opportunities for manifesting bodhichitta. [the mind of awakening, invoked to

call all beings back to their own innate, latent, great enlightenment.. -

JIA]-- [name withheld]>>A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PRAYER>>Heavenly Father, Help us

remember that the jerk who cut us off in>traffic last night is a single mother

who worked nine hours that day and>was rushing home to cook dinner, help with

homework, do the laundry and>spend a few precious moments with her

children.>>Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young

man>who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college>student,

balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of>not getting his

student loans for next semester.>>Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum,

begging for money in the>same spot every day (who really ought to get a job)!

is a slave to>addictions that we can only imagine in our worst

nightmares.>>Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow

through>the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring

this>moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last

week,>this will be the last year that they go shopping together.>>Heavenly

Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us,>the greatest

gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with>those we hold dear. Open

our hearts not just to those who are close to>us but to all humanity. Let us be

slow to judgment and quick to>forgiveness and patience and empathy and

love.>>AMEN>>-- Author UnknownOm Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya; Hare Krishna; Om

Tat Sat:

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[Guest guest]

Hello all,

 

Jesse's posted article goes with my thoughts this morning.

 

In modern American society, the separation of Church and State, along with

many other factors, has resulted in a society where at work we are "in

state", that is, there's no shared culture, because everyone is different,

so talking about nothing important rules.

 

Churches are not in many people's lives, and when they are, they are often

fairly ineffectual and meaningless.

 

We have no more tribes, societies, extended families.

 

People now live most of their lives, in nuclear families, where TV is the

social and cultural Guru.

 

On TV, even the one criticized badly each week in the sitcom pops back for

more abuse. They never cry. They never deal with death in a profound way.

They don't deal with aging, crisis, disease, addictions, depression, and all

the other things that are in each and ever family, and touching every life,

so this TV clad nuclear American normal family essentially has no culture,

no ritual, no beliefs, no village, no tribe, no customs, no elders, no

mentors, and often, improper food, malnourishment though they think they are

modern and set there, and they get fat easily, and have all kinds of

emotional problems often.

 

It's funny we have to be reminded to understand old people, it's a sign of

the loss of understandding of life's cycles in our culturless society, where

aging and death are shunned and hidden, by the bearers of them, in shame,

because society doesn't have any way of expressing, honoring, welcoming, or

even witnessing these natural parts of all of our lives.

 

We are culturally disabled in America. It's showing.

 

It's showing in our lives, in ourselves.

 

It's a result of history, industrialization, and our sidetrack into

culturelessness based on the American way, the massive and diverse

immigrations, so many factors, but it's here. You can't deny it's here. We

have no culture. Most people watch alot of meaningless TV, and know little

of history, any set of beliefs, rituals, customs, etc. Very few people are

really in a community at all. Very few. There is no community coming from

our "culture". It's the "culture-less" culture actually. So one has to find

one's community, family, village, etc., on one's own. Often, these days, by

now in American history that is, most of us, going back even to the

grandparent level, find little village, tribe, clann, culture, to cling to.

Sure, some will find it, especially more recently integrated cultures and

nationalities, like the Vietnamese and Mexican's, for example. But for most

white people, the cultures of our ancestors are long forgotten.

 

People are messed up, and the pierced kid is showing it to us. Youth are

seeking something hard and strong, something "knarly" as they say. They need

things that were cleansed from life in past generations to come up to some

material standard of perfection.

 

Well, we've come very far in material standards in America. Very far. So

now, the problem is all that has been neglected for hundreds of years,

things about us, about our bodies, about our natural neesd for

socialization. We're isolated, and it's made us weird. We're off on a

million side trips because the basics of life including food, family,

entertainment, village life, relationships, and much more, have all become

totally weird and skewed by the de-culturalization that's been a big bad

part of our industrialization, of our "American Dream", and of modern

Western trends in the last many hundreds of years now.

 

Yes, we need to think, before we judge. Judgement has also risen

tremendously because the norm is the norm, not the person. The person, and

their background, matter less and less, as all that matters more and more is

living up to material norms, even at the expense of our selves in our

mental, emotional, and physical health.

 

It's sorely time for back to the heart, the earth, the body, the health, the

village mood, the people, and all the things that are real and tangible and

always, that were before, that are what we are, our real lives, then after

we've made sure we're taking "care of ourselves", then we can design that

new circuit board for video graphics acceleration...

 

Morning a-dew,

 

dewd rick